Finnish Justus Mutanen wins International Statistical Literacy Competition
Tilastokeskus The winner of the competition, Justus Mutanen beams while congratulated by Juana Sanchez, the Director of ISLP and Pali Lehohla, Statistician-General from Statistics South Africa.Justus Mutanen from Lyseonpuisto Upper Secondary School, Rovaniemi, triumphed individual championship in the 17 to 18 age-category in the International Statistical Literacy Competition for young people, which was held in Durban, South Africa on August 20th. The competition was organized in connection with the world congress of the International Statistical Institute. In addition, the joint Finnish-Zambian team was an outstanding winner of the team competition.
The International Statistical Literacy Competition was held for the first time this year. The aim of the competition is to improve the abilities of 10 to 18-year-old students in describing their environment with the help of statistics and in using statistics as a tool for making sense of their daily life.
Justus, who passed his matriculation examination last spring, is now an army conscript in Rovaniemi, but his future interests include statistics, mathematics, biosciences and data processing science.
- After the army I'll begin studies in biochemistry at the University of Helsinki, says Justus. He gives acknowledgement to his teacher, Raimo Huhtala, who accompanied him on the trip to share the tense atmosphere of the competition and has both motivated him in studies and encouraged him to participate in various competitions. This July, Justus participated in the International Biology Olympics in Japan, where he won bronze.
The Competition was open to all the countries in the world. The qualifying national competitions had participants from more than 20 countries. The Durban final had 45 students from 16 countries. The qualifying round in Finland was organized by Statistics Finland and MAOL, the Finnish Association of Teachers of Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Informatics.
Finland was represented in Durban by four students. In addition to Justus Mutanen, the team included Miina Virtanen from Helsinki (age category 12 to14), Kaisa-Mari Vuoti from Kempele (age category 15 to 16) and Elmo Pikkupeura from Kerava (age category 17 to 18), accompanied by their teachers. The team's participation in the African final was made possible by sponsorship from the Finnish Board of Education, Economic Information Bureau TAT, Numerola Ltd., Municipality of Kempele, City of Rovaniemi, Lions Club Helsinki/Kamppi and Lions Club Kerava.
The Competition was organized by the International Association of Statistical Education IASE, which promotes the teaching of statistics and statistical literacy, and operates under the auspices of the International Statistical Institute (ISI). It was part of the International Statistical Literacy Project (ISLP).
